Sharon Van Etten has shared “Quiet Eyes,” her contribution to the soundtrack to Celine Song’s new A24 film Past Lives. Check it out below.
Written and performed alongside Zachary Dawes, “Quiet Lives” feels like a lost 1960s girl group ballad thanks to its cinematic percussion and sweeping strings. In the song, Van Etten describes “mosaic faces fading in the rain” before wondering, “Is this really a mystery life? We’re running from our own mistakes.” It’s the type of theatrical writing you’d expect for a song soundtracking a romance movie in which old friends reconnect decades after first meeting.
In addition to Van Etten’s new original song, the Past Lives soundtrack features a score by Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen and Christopher Bear. So far, the artists have shared the songs “Why Are You Going to New York” and “Across the Ocean;” the full soundtrack arrives June 9th via A24 Music, while the film is in theaters now.
Van Etten’s last album was 2022’s We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong, which she followed up with a deluxe edition featuring two previously unreleased bonus tracks. In March, she released an anniversary reissue of her 2012 album Tramp.
